


Guide Me Home

by celestialsucculent



Category: Naruto
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Jinchuuriki-centric, M/M, Post-Naruto Time Skip | Naruto Shippuden
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-17 09:47:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17558054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celestialsucculent/pseuds/celestialsucculent
Summary: "Carrying the one-tails felt like…” Gaara pauses remembering the sleepless nights and the bloodlust and the whispering clawing constantly at his mind. He feels Naruto’s gaze on him as the word falls from his lips, “...insanity.”And Gaara must look truly wretched, because Naruto’s tone is low and sad, “Gaara…”Gaara can’t bring himself to look at the expression he knows must be on his friends face. He continues before Naruto can say more, “But that feeling was normal. It was something, and now inside me, it’s...empty.”Two jinchurikis comfort each other as the sun falls beneath the dunes, Post-Kazekage Retrieval Arc.





	Guide Me Home

It’s late in the day when Naruto finds him. He is resting on the balcony of the Kazekage’s residence, just trying to adjust, trying to get away from all the well wishes and the concern. It’s only been a couple of hours since he’d died. He just needs to breathe.

Still he doesn’t send Naruto away. Naruto’s...different.

Besides, him and his comrades will be leaving in the morning. Their mission is complete, after all. Naruto had taken him back from the Akatsuki, from the doorstep of death...there was nothing more for him here. This may be the last of Naruto that he sees for a very long time. 

“Hey Gaara,” Naruto says, his elbow nearly brushing against Gaara’s own when he rests them on the railing. Gaara gives a nod in response, and the look Naruto gives Gaara in return is piercing. 

“How are you?” he’s asked for the billionth time that day. 

But perhaps because it’s Naruto who is asking, Naruto, the one person who could understand him better than anyone, who has seen him at his lowest...perhaps that is why he lets the automatic assurances fall from his lips. For the first time that day, Gaara answers honestly, “The demon is gone, which, people have told me, should be a relief. And maybe they are right. Carrying the one-tails felt like…” Gaara pauses remembering the sleepless nights and the bloodlust and the whispering clawing constantly at his mind. He feels Naruto’s gaze on him as the word falls from his lips, “...insanity.” 

And Gaara must look truly wretched, because Naruto’s tone is low and sad, “Gaara…”

Gaara can’t bring himself to look at the expression he knows must be on his friends face. He continues before Naruto can say more, “But that feeling was normal. It was something, and now inside me, it’s...empty.” 

Gaara sighs, and looks out past the rounded houses that make up Sunagakure, to the desert sands that lie beyond. In his youth, he’d retreated to those dunes for the bare comfort they provided. Now, the sand is reds and oranges, like fire, in the sunset, and all Gaara can see is the desolation in it. He recalls the life draining from him among those dunes, remembers how rough the sand could be…

He doesn’t want to dwell, so he shakes himself to the present with the realization that his companion has not uttered a word. Gaara turns to look at Uzumaki Naruto, and finds his friend staring at him with dark eyes.

It is such a rare moment of stillness, of gravity, especially from Naruto, who is always so alive with movement and cheer and noise. Gaara takes a moment to watch how the shadows play on his face and the sunset glints in his hair, so much like the desert. He wonders what Naruto could be thinking that would make him look so sinister. 

Naruto’s tone is unyielding when he speaks, “You’re still you, Gaara, with or without the one-tails. That’s never defined you, not really, not to the people that matter.” 

How like him, to get right to the core of what’s troubling him. Naruto reaches to grab Gaara’s hand and Gaara nearly startles from the unexpected touch, but Naruto’s grip is solid, unspoken support. 

“You’ll find something to fill that emptiness with, I’m sure of it,” Naruto says, eyes wide with sincerity. 

Gaara stares at their linked hands, unblinking. The emptiness in him seems to ache. How can Naruto have such faith in him? Gaara sighs, and lets his hand slide from Naruto’s hold. Briefly, Naruto looks pained. 

This emptiness...Gaara thinks of the ache inside him and he wonders.

And then, Gaara’s asking the question before he’s even fully processed it, “What does the Kyuubi feel like, inside you?”

Naruto blinks in surprise, and for a moment, simply stares. 

“What?” Gaara asks suspiciously.

“Err--nothing,” Naruto looks away, and rubs the back of his head sheepishly, “It’s just, well..no one has ever asked me before, ya know.” 

Gaara knows that it is this way. Even now, with friends that know, with the Akatsuki blatantly chasing jinchuriki, the Nine-tails is a topic to be danced around. And even though Gaara understands, he hates the hesitant, almost guilty, look on Naruto’s face. 

“Well?” Gaara insists, and Naruto looks at him with wide eyes. Naruto’s cheeks are a bit pink, Gaara realizes. He wonders if Naruto is not yet used to the chill of the desert as night draws near...

“Ah…” Naruto starts, still disconcerted, “I mean...I hardly noticed it at first. Ya know...the Nine-tails,” he whispers the name like a secret, “But now, the way things are now...it’s like a pressure. It’s different than yours because it...it feels like...” 

As Naruto speaks, his hand creeps towards his stomach--towards the seal, “Hate. Anger. It’s so angry it makes me feel sick, and the hatred...it  _ burns _ . Everything I feel gets all twisted around...” 

Naruto trails off, looking distressed about something. Then, abruptly, Naruto drops his hand, and turns to face Gaara. There’s a startling, electric intensity in his eyes.

“I’m angry about what they did to you Gaara. And I think it’s really all mine. I-I can’t stop thinking about it...those bastards...you shouldn’t have to--to feel empty, and alone, and--and!! God, it’s just so unfair! We didn’t ask for this!” Gaara sees something red, something animalistic, flash in Naruto’s gaze. Then, running a hand through his hair in frustration, Naruto looks away. That same dark look from earlier has resurfaced, and Gaara is startled but he  _ realizes _ .

Naruto has worked himself up like this... _ for him _ ? Something warm settles into the emptiness in Gaara’s chest, and, for a moment, for the first time since Ichibi has been extracted, he feels whole. Then, Naruto lets out a breath, and the tension and anger in his shoulders falls away to leave something vulnerable in its place.

“I don’t mean to yell...it’s just, you’re so important Gaara, and you’re one of my most precious people, and I--I’m so glad you’re alive, ya know? I should have been able to protect you but I let you d--” Naruto’s voice cracks, and with the anger gone, Gaara sees the shadows under his friends eyes, the worry carved into the lines of his face. 

Gaara desperately wants to wash that pain away. 

It’s spur of the moment when he pulls Naruto into a hug, instinctual, and immediately Gaara knows it was a mistake. Naruto’s stiff in his hold, and Gaara doesn’t know what to do with his hands, and this is a complete disaster.

But then, Naruto shifts, putting his head right on Gaara’s shoulder. Naruto’s arms wrap around snugly, and he feels Naruto release an exhausted, shaky breath as the tension melts away. For a moment, Gaara closes his eyes and marvels at this moment. He didn’t realize how much they’d both needed this, and...

“Naruto, I’m sorry.” 

Naruto’s head whips up to stare at him, “Sorry? What are you talking about? You’re the last one that needs to apologize, ya know. I failed you--hell, you died, I was trying to comfort you, not the other way around!” Naruto huffs under his breath, “I’m an idiot.”

Gaara cannot even begin to say how wrong Naruto is in this moment, “No. You--you saved me,” The whole village had come to rescue him, and several leaf shinobi as well, and Gaara’s so  touched and grateful, but Naruto...

“You guided me home.”

Naruto looks at him, searching, and Gaara lets him see the sincerity, the love, the trust. He remembers a time when there was nothing, just blankness, emptiness. His own identity had been lost to him...and Naruto had found him, once again, and given him life. He needs to see, to understand. 

Gaara sees a light return to Naruto’s eyes, sees the sun return to the sky.

“Alright,” Naruto breathes, resting his head once more on Gaara’s shoulder, likely, finally, giving into exhaustion, “Things will be okay Gaara.”

Gaara sighs, and clutches Naruto closer, “I think so too.”

Gaara feels Naruto’s lips curl into a smile on his neck, and Gaara can’t help but smile too. The emptiness in his chest has been filled with warmth and hope and love. 

The sun slips beneath the dunes, and the air chills, but Gaara has never felt so warm.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it~!


End file.
